Forward Deployed Engineer - Los Angeles

limitless; Los Angeles (CA); Hybrid; USD 190,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

Limitless is seeking a Founding Forward Deployed Engineer in Los Angeles. The role blends on-site customer work with distributed development, shaping the early technical path of our AI platform and ensuring real-world validation.

You will embed with customer teams, translate operational problems into concrete designs, and deploy the platform across APIs, databases, ERP, historians, and OT landscapes. This is a unique chance to influence product and delivery from day one.

Qualifications

• 4+ years in software, data engineering, systems integration or demanding client-facing technical work.
• Experience leading ambiguous customer-facing work from discovery to deployed outcome.
• Strong CS fundamentals: systems, data models, APIs, infrastructure, security, trade-offs.
• Hands-on with SQL, Python, APIs and cloud services.
• An AI-native working style, using modern AI tools fluently to move faster without losing judgement.
• High ownership and comfort with incomplete information and unfamiliar environments.

Responsibilities

• Own the technical path from discovery through deployment on site with customers.
• Embed with customer teams on site to turn ambiguous problems into clear designs.
• Integrate customer systems and data (APIs, databases, ERP, historians, OT).
• Configure and deploy the platform and validate it works in real operating conditions.
• Shape the product by translating field evidence into requirements and build deployment playbooks.
• Collaborate with founders and ship impactful features quickly.

Skills

SQL

Python

APIs

Cloud services

AI-native work style

Ownership

Problem solving

Job description

Founding Forward Deployed Engineer | Los Angeles (Hybrid) | Up to $250,000 + Equity

My client, a very well-funded private AI company with strong runway, is building the missing layer of enterprise AI: a platform that ingests live data from complex physical operations, understands what actually matters, and drives decisions and workflows across the people responsible for the outcome. While most AI companies chase digital industries, they're deliberately going after the sectors that extract, move and build the physical world, where the data is messy, decisions are expensive and the consequences are real.

They're already live in production with a major enterprise operator across multiple international sites, real commercial proof, not a demo!

As their founding FDE, you'll own the technical path from discovery through deployment: embedding with customer teams on site, turning ambiguous operational problems into clear solution designs, integrating customer systems and data (APIs, databases, ERP platforms, historians, OT), configuring and deploying the platform, and validating it works under real operating conditions. You'll also shape the product itself, translating field evidence into requirements engineering acts on, and building the playbooks that make every future deployment faster. You'll work directly with the founders and ship things that matter quickly.

What we need to see:

• 4+ years in software, data engineering, systems integration or demanding client-facing technical work
• Experience leading ambiguous customer-facing work from discovery through to a deployed outcome
• Strong CS fundamentals: systems, data models, APIs, infrastructure, security, trade-offs
• Hands-on with SQL, Python, APIs and cloud services
• An AI-native working style, using modern AI tools fluently to move faster without losing judgement
• High ownership and comfort with incomplete information and unfamiliar environments

Bonus, not required: ERP, historian or operational systems (SAP, PI, Wonderware), enterprise security and infrastructure, exposure to heavy-asset industries, French fluency.

Note: Hybrid with regular in-person time in LA, plus roughly monthly international travel to operational sites (30%+ overall, including industrial and remote locations). US work authorisation required, no sponsorship available.